Books by Edgar Allan Poe
“Most people would agree that it’s the first actual detective story. There are other stories about crime beforehand, there are even one or two locked room mysteries, but this is the first great detective story. The detective is called Auguste Dupin and it’s set in Paris. Dupin is the archetypal great detective, the brilliant reasoning machine with an admiring unnamed friend who’s the narrator of his exploits. There are two women murdered. One of them is found in a room that’s locked and shuttered and there’s no way in and no way out. You can’t get through the ceiling; you can’t get through the floor. How did it happen? That’s the central puzzle. The police are baffled by the murders, but by applying his brand of logic, Dupin solves the mystery to everybody’s amazement. I won’t say what the solution is but it’s a pretty remarkable one, that’s for sure.” Read more...
Martin Edwards, Literary Scholar
“It’s a beautifully made book—well-bound with lovely paper. The editorial choices are smart. And in one volume you get most of what Poe wrote: all the poetry, all the stories, his sole novel (The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym) and much of his criticism and essays. Which is great, because readers can dip in wherever they like, and watch as Poe takes an idea and works it through different genres, shifting from, say, gothic romance to satire to speculative fiction. The book captures the restlessness of his invention.” Read more...
The Best Edgar Allan Poe Books
Shawn Rosenheim, Literary Scholar
“I first came across it when I was nine years old. I still remember this cartoon which had the raven in it. It really affected me because the raven was so sinister and nasty. It really scared me. It was so close to things to do with death and the supernatural. What I was looking at was a cartoon version of Poe’s The Raven. I was so taken by the story I asked my mother to track down the original for me.” Read more...
“Poe was a really interesting writer in that he managed to affect a kind of carelessness. There was a sort of feeling of dementia and frothing insanity and a stream of consciousness. But, actually, I think his works are extraordinarily well thought through, because he was a poet as well. He could think of things with really elaborate metres and internal rhymes.” Read more...
Kim Newman, Novelist
Interviews where books by Edgar Allan Poe were recommended
The best books on Horror, recommended by Kim Newman
Which are the best horror books ever written? Novelist and horror expert Kim Newman, author of Anno Dracula, talks us through his top five and reveals which of the classics is, for him, the greatest of them all.
The best books on Swedish Crime Writing, recommended by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström
The celebrated Swedish crime-writing duo take turns to recommend gripping and grisly Scandinavian thrillers, as well as to tell us about visiting prison – and being in it
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1
Poe: Poetry, Tales, and Selected Essays
by Edgar Allan Poe -
2
The Detective Stories of Edgar Allan Poe: Three Tales Featuring C. Auguste Dupin
by Edgar Allan Poe -
3
Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography
by Arthur Hobson Quinn -
4
Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe
by Daniel Hoffman -
5
Pym: A Novel
by Mat Johnson
The Best Edgar Allan Poe Books, recommended by Shawn Rosenheim
The Best Edgar Allan Poe Books, recommended by Shawn Rosenheim
You can’t turn on a television or pass an airport bookstore without seeing the influence of America’s most generative writer, Edgar Allan Poe. He orginated true life crime and detective fiction, sci-fi and horror story tropes, and wrote unforgettable poems. Poe expert Shawn Rosenheim, a professor at Williams College, recommends where to start with Poe, as well as the best books about his influence.
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1
The Detective Stories of Edgar Allan Poe: Three Tales Featuring C. Auguste Dupin
by Edgar Allan Poe -
2
The Mystery of the Yellow Room
by Gaston Leroux -
3
The Third Bullet and Other Stories
by John Dickson Carr -
4
Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938)
by Agatha Christie -
5
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders
by Ross and Shika Mackenzie (translators) & Soji Shimada
The Best Golden Age Mysteries, recommended by Martin Edwards
The Best Golden Age Mysteries, recommended by Martin Edwards
Partly as a response to the horrors of World War I, the 1920s and 30s saw a surge in the writing of whodunnits, a period often referred to as the ‘golden age’ of mystery writing. Here, Martin Edwards, one of the leading experts on the genre, picks out some key works, with a special focus on ‘locked room’ mysteries.